Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-05-13
PRIM ROSES.
The Most Charming Varieties and
How to Cultivate Them-Lord
Beaconsicld's FavorIte Flower.

How to Cultivate Them-Lord
Beaconsfeld's FavorIte Flower.
To people of every nation the prim-
roses have IA word to say of the happy
threshold that opens from winter to
spring. Every language of the north
ern zone recognizes them as the first
corners the flowers nearest after the
snow. The English long ago named
them primrose, the French l,rtmeUere:
the Spanish. prtn,uia. which gives
name to their natural order, prtDlulace0;
the Italians and Portuguese, prtDla0era;
the Germans, Jruhlag5-b!Hme or die
Schiu.se-binDte; the Dutch. Sieutei-
6.uue. and the Russian, duckW.za
In Switzerland they hardly wait for
the snow to melt if its sheet is thin
enough TO transmit the sunlight they
a traveller passing over the Faulhorn
saw "a field of snow where a horse had
passed; and the snow disappearing in
his tracks the little circles were brim-
full of flowers
LinuHus, not for Their botanical
value but for their brave little hearts,
called them 1.-THE precious. English
people. who from childhood know the
sunny blossoms in open woods and
hedgerows love them dearly; and an
English primrose, sent in a glass case
TO Australia, awakened such enthus-
iasm among the homesick miners that
its exhibition had to be protected by n
guard. Lord Beaconstield loved the
pale primrose. called by the country
folk the "hrstlng' the posse and
the key of May and on the 18th of
April it is worn in his memory.
The affection inspired by the sunny
little wildling is not lessened by its
cultivat on. 1t rewards care with the
most lavish profusion of blossoms. A
single plant produces IN "A season from
five hundred to thousand blossoms.
and goes far to satisfy the expression
used of primroses by an experienced
florist: They will flower themselves
10 death il YOU will let them.
The primroses that at this time of the
year are most attractive to us. and that
we include gladly among our house
plants to bloom through March till
Easter are the Chinese primroses
(Pr,Dluia sinensiS). We find them in
char ming variety, from the primitive
simplicity of the single white and the
single red, the original SinenSiS,
brought from China in lS20-to the re-
fined surpr ses of the most intrcately
cultivated of1spring-the double, and
double-fringed red. white, and purple;
the double-fringed carmine and white
flecked with pale lilac; the red,
white. and purple, and white fern
leaved; the Strata, white striped with
red; the KermeS''aa SpleHdenS. bright
carmine with yellow eye, and new
and very beautiful variety. the Puncta-
tn eiegantiSSiDld, rich crimson deeply
fringed and bordered with snow-white
flakes.
The soil for prmroses is, generally
speaking, SANDY loan and peat.
One of our best florists recommends "a
good mixture of vegetable mold and
sand" The greatest success, however,
has attended mixture of ope-half
sandy loan and one-half leaf-mold or de-
cayed refuse hops. The roots of theprim-
rose are threadlikc and very fine, and
require the mechanical condition of the
soil to be yielding and easily penetrat-
ed. The plant should be sufficiently
wstered to keep the earth about it from
ever being so dry that it may be grated
by the hand. The temperature at
Towering time should be 90 degrees TO
20 by day. and 80 degrees by 60 by
night
Usually. in amateur cultivation. we
are content to buy our plants in bud,
and keep them in good condition until
the towering is over: then, indeed,
unless cuttings have been made at the
proper time. the plants are exhausted
and they might as well die. But some
times among our primroses a variety
| falls to us that we wish to perpetuate,
or we save the seeds of particularly
lovely flower. We are interested then
to know something of the modes OF
propagation, which in this case are
either by seeds. cuttings or divisions.
The seeds must be sown in April.
May. or early in June, or not until sep
TENDER or October. as the heat of the
intervening months prevents vigorous